Al Pacino

Arguably the greatest and most accomplished actor of his generation, Al Pacino became a cultural icon thanks to revered performances in a wide range of classic films, including "The Godfather" (1972),...
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Singer/actress Liza Minnelli paid tribute to her moviemaker father Vincente Minnelli as she picked up a lifetime achievment award in Los Angeles. The Cabaret star accepted the Jack Valenti Lifetime Achievement Award at Los Angeles-Italia Film Festival on Friday (20Feb15), and she used the moment to honour her late dad.
She told the audience at the ceremony, "My father, Vincente Minnelli, directed some of the greatest motion pictures Hollywood has produced, and from him I received two wonderful things: my love of movies and my Italian heritage."
Minnelli follows in the footsteps of previous winners of the prize, named after longtime president of the Motion Picture Association of America Jack Valenti, including Al Pacino and Anjelica Huston.

The Godfather can arguably be deemed as the best movie ever made. So, it's easy for your love to go to a whole other level. Do you just love Michael Corleone (Al Pacino)? Or has your love for him made you kind of feel like you are him? It's time to find out that line between love and obsession!
1. You have learned most of your lessons about family from the triology.
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2. This scene often pops into your head, making you angry.
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3. You have sent fish to someone you had beef with.
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4. You can't help but be superstitious of oranges.
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5. Every time you hear someone is planning a wedding you recommend that they play "Luna Mezz O'Mare" at the reception.
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6. You quote it non-stop.
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7. You turn to the movies for business advice before anything else.
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8. You aspire to become a Godfather one day.
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9. The third Godfather is kind of a hot topic for you.
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10. When you get dressed up you want a red rose to go with your tux.
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11. You can't help but be creeped out by hospitals now.
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12. You say a Hail Mary every time you go fishing.
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Are you obsessed with The Godfather? Tell us how my tweeting us your answers using the Twitter handles below!
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Oscar winner Liza Minnelli is set to be feted for her lifetime of achievements at the upcoming Los Angeles-Italia Festival. The Cabaret star will be given the Jack Valenti Legend Award at the 10th annual event, which celebrates entertainment industry ties between Italy and Hollywood.
A statement from festival organisers announcing the prize reads: "We are extremely honored and delighted to be presenting this year's Jack Valenti Legend Award to the talented and lovely Liza Minnelli.As in prior years our board aims to recognize highly talented Italian-Americans who have made an impact on the industry and without a doubt, Liza fits the bill."
Named after long-time Motion Picture Association of America president Jack Valenti, the accolade has previously been given to Al Pacino and Anjelica Huston.
Minnelli will be presented with the award during the festival's closing night ceremonies in Los Angeles on 20 February (15).

U.S. TV talk show pioneer Joe Franklin has died, aged 88. Franklin passed away on Saturday (24Jan15) at a hospice in New York City after a battle with prostate cancer.
He was a regular fixture on late-night radio and TV shows in the Big Apple and is credited with inventing the talk show format.
Franklin is believed to have interviewed 300,000 guests in 21,445 shows from 1950 to 1993, and he is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the world's longest-running talk show programme.
During his career, he interviewed the likes of Bing Crosby, Marilyn Monroe, Madonna, Barbra Streisand, Eddie Murphy, Bette Midler, Al Pacino, Woody Allen and Bruce Springsteen, giving many of them early exposure before their careers kicked off.
Franklin also played himself in the films Manhattan, Broadway Danny Rose and Ghostbusters.

A Tony Award and a Golden Globe trophy Al Pacino picked up early in his career are heading to the auction block. The Godfather star earned his first Tony in 1969 after he was named Best Supporting Actor in a Play for his role in Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? and he added to his trophy case in 1974, when he claimed the Globe for Best Leading Actor in a Drama Film for Serpico.
He gifted the two prizes to his manager mentor, producer Martin Bregman, who has since handed them over to bosses at Goldin Auctions in New Jersey.
Bidding on the Tony Award starts at $10,000 (£6,250), while the Golden Globe Award is listed for a minimum of $25,000 (£15,625).
The accolades aren't the only Pacino memorabilia up for grabs in the celebrity goods sale - a collection of his old movie scripts, including the original 1973 script for Bank Job, which was later named Dog Day Afternoon, is also featured among the lots, alongside a gold Rolex watch the actor had inscribed for Bregman.
Other items going under the hammer include a sailor costume Frank Sinatra wore in 1945 movie Anchors Aweigh, Dean Martin's military jacket from 1958 film The Young Lions, and a Les Paul guitar purchased by Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page from the Eagles' Joe Walsh in 1969, which has a starting bid of $20,000 (£12,500).
Bidding for the auction will open next week (12Jan15) until 7 February (15).

Paul Simon is in the clear after he was slapped with a lawsuit over allegations he owes money to a jailed financier who conned the veteran singer as part of a $30 million (£18.8 million) Ponzi scheme. Celebrity accountant Kenneth Starr was sentenced to more than seven years behind bars in 2011 for embezzling millions from clients including Al Pacino, Martin Scorsese, Wesley Snipes, Uma Thurman, Liam Neeson, Simon and Warren Beatty.
Representatives for his bankrupt firms, Starr & Company LLC and Starr Investment Advisors LLC, have been seeking to collect any money owed to the disgraced banker in a bid to pay off his companies' creditors.
Ironically, Simon, who is among the listed creditors, was named in legal papers filed in November (14), accusing the star of failing to settle a previous bill for $17,174.49 (£10,734.06) for services rendered.
Plaintiffs sought to recover the balance of the invoice, plus interest and attorney's fees, but they apparently had a change of heart and dropped the New York suit just three weeks later, according to the New York Daily News.

Funnyman Chris Rock is still convinced Al Pacino's Scent Of A Woman would have been a better movie if he'd beaten Chris O'Donnell for the role of the movie legend's sidekick. Rock admits he was up for the role of Charlie Simms in the 1992 drama but lost out to O'Donnell.
He tells Rolling Stone, "There was a little bit of talk about me playing the Chris O'Donnell part in Scent of a Woman, which actually would've been a better movie with a black kid playing that part."
Rock was also up for the title role in Julian Schnabel's Basquiat, but didn't have a clue who the director or the artist were.
He adds, "I didn't know who Schnabel was, and I didn't know who Basquiat was."

Actor Al Pacino has been left shocked by the unexpected death of his Angels In America director Mike Nichols, revealing the beloved filmmaker was "a dear friend". A host of Hollywood stars took to social media, TV and radio on Thursday to pay tribute to Nichols, who suffered a cardiac arrest and died on Wednesday (19Nov14), and now heavyweights Pacino, Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks have added their thoughts to the list of celebrities honouring the great man's legacy.
The Godfather star Pacino became good friends with Nichols after they worked together on the 2003 TV adaptation of Tony Kushner's play Angels in America, and the actor admits he is struggling to come to terms with the sad news.
He tells the New York Post, "He was my dear friend, and I loved him. He was the greatest director I ever worked with.
"I am deeply touched by (his passing) and it's a little soon for me to respond. The shock hasn't worn off."
Pacino's Angels In America co-star Streep has also shared her memories of longtime collaborator Nichols in a statement which reads: "An inspiration and joy to know, a director who cried when he laughed, a friend without whom, well, we can't imagine our world, an indelible irreplaceable man."
Meanwhile, Hanks, who starred in the filmmaker's final directorial feature, Charlie Wilson's War, adds, "'Forward. We must always move forward. Otherwise what will become of us?,' said Mike Nichols, who changed the lives of those who knew him, who loved him, who will miss him so."
And actress Natalie Portman, who won her first Oscar nomination for her role in Nichols' 2004 film Closer, has added her own touching tribute to Nichols.
A message issued to Eonline.com reads: "There's nothing good enough I can write that would do Mike justice. He was the one who had the best words, the right hug for hard times, the funny comment to diffuse your pain. He saved me again and again. He was the best way to be a person and an artist. And the most, most fun."

Rocker Ryan Adams has been enlisted to compose the score for Al Pacino's upcoming drama inspired by John Lennon. The singer/songwriter was recruited by veteran film composer Theodore Shapiro to co-write the music to Danny Collins, according to website Film Music Reporter.
Adams previously collaborated with Shapiro on the track Stay Alive, which was performed by Jose Gonzalez, from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty soundtrack.
Danny Collins follows an ageing rock star, played by Pacino, who attempts to change his life and make amends with enemies after finding a personal letter written by Lennon.
The film also stars Annette Bening, Jennifer Garner, Christopher Plummer, and Bobby Cannavale, and is written and directed by Tangled helmer Dan Fogelman, who worked with Adams' wife Mandy Moore in the Disney film.
Danny Collins is slated to hit cinemas next year (15).

Jessica Chastain's grandmother has developed a crush on the actress' movie dad Matthew Mcconaughey. The Help star's gran has become a regular at the Oscar winner's red carpet events and premieres, where she gets to meet her movie idols - and she was bowled over by charming McConaughey at a recent Interstellar screening.
He now has taken over from Al Pacino as grandma's leading man.
The actress explains, "My first job was working with Al Pacino and my grandmother took a picture with him... and she framed it and put it on a bedside table... I thought that was the biggest goal of her life, you know, that picture of Al Pacino. There is one man who has surpassed Al Pacino in my grandmother's eyes, and that's Matthew McConaughey.
"He flirted with her like I've never seen. They met at a screening of Interstellar and my grandmother was so starstruck: 'I want a selfie, Matthew!' She then proceeded to do a photoshoot in front of everyone. Like, 'You stand there', and she just started taking pictures of Matthew."

Portrayed the legendary 1960s music producer in HBO movie "Phil Spector," directed by David Mamet

Received star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

Nominated for the 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie ("You Don't Know Jack")

Played a college professor and forensics expert hunted by a serial killer in "88 Minutes"

Returned to features with "The Son of No One," co-starring Channing Tatum and Juliette Binoche

Returned to stage as Shylock in Shakespeare in the Park production of "The Merchant of Venice"; earned Tony nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play

Reprised role in "The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel" for Broadway production; won second Tony Award

Played a grandfather in Depression-era "Two Bits"; role was Pacino's tribute to his beloved grandfather who raised him

Summary

Arguably the greatest and most accomplished actor of his generation, Al Pacino became a cultural icon thanks to revered performances in a wide range of classic films, including "The Godfather" (1972), "Scarface" (1983) and "Glengarry Glen Ross" (1992). Coming to prominence during the 1970s - a period commonly regarded as Hollywood's last Golden Age - he possessed none of the classic features of leading men from Tinseltown's previous heyday, but nonetheless, enthralled audiences with absorbing performances on screens both large and small. As a Method actor, Pacino revealed the dark complexities of characters like Frank Serpico, Sonny Wortzik and Colonel Frank Slade. But in life, the actor remained an elusive figure, preferring to avoid disclosing anything of a personal nature. Despite such reluctance to open up about his life, Pacino maintained a long, prominent career in which he accomplished acting's rarest of feats - winning Oscar, Emmy <i>and</i> Tony awards.

Became involved in the early 1970s; Rekindled relationship in the early 1980s; Acted together in "The Godfather" trilogy; Reportedly became romantically involved during filming of the third part in 1989; No longer together

Born Feb. 16, 1922; was only 18 years old when son Al Pacino was born; left home when Al was two; moved to Covina, CA; owned a restaurant called Pacino's Lounge, which closed down in 1992; Died in 2005 of a heart attack at age 82

Rose Pacino

Mother

Was a young mother; raised Pacino with the help of her parents; died in 1962

Education

"I am more alive in the theater than anywhere else, but what I take into the theater I get from the streets." – Pacino in The Hollywood Reporter Star Profiles, 1984

"We used to play on a stoop in front of the local drug store on 173rd Street and Bryant Avenue [in the Bronx]. So nothing much has changed. The thing that struck me when I saw 'Scent of a Woman' was that when [Pacino] was 11 or 12 years old, he would always pretend to be a blind man. He used to walk down 174th Street, pretend he was blind and ask people to help him across the street. So it wasn't a surprise for me to see him get an Academy Award for a role he's been playing all his life." – Kenneth Lipper, neighborhood friend who grew up to be NYC Deputy Mayor under Ed Koch (and also co-screenwriter of "City Hall") quoted in The New York Times, Oct. 7, 1996

"Movies are wonderful. I love seeing them. But they're not as much fun to do for me. It's a very fragmented existence. You may only shoot a minute a day. There's a lot of waiting. But when you work on the stage, something can happen in your imagination that can affect the way you perform for the rest of your life. If you have a steady diet of that, you miss it.

About returning to film acting in 1989's "Sea of Love" after a four year absence: "There was a division in my life, especially when I was younger, that films were there [he points left] and I was there [he points right]. I needed to understand and appreciate film as a form, not just something that I was in. I had to get more intimate with it, get my hands on it. Making my own picture ("The Local Stigmatic") gave me that tactile sense. And I think that helped me go on" – Pacino quoted in The Los Angeles Times, June 29, 1999

"I knew I would [be an actor] for the rest of my life at age 22, when I was in a Strindberg play called 'The Creditors." It was at the Actor's Gallery in SoHo on West Broadway, and I had found that through this play I was able to express [myself], and it wasn't just performing for me anymore; it became a way of speaking, talking about things. And I thought this will always be a way to express [myself]." – Pacino to the Daily News, Oct. 24, 1999

"I'd like to be remembered as the only man who lived to be 250 years old! [Laughs] And as someone who had a chance to do what he always wanted to do. I like to think I'm a guy who wasn't going to make it, and I did. So it's good to buck the odds. If that means anything to anyone, I will be grateful from the beyond." – Pacino on how he wants to be remembered, to USA Weekend, Jan. 26, 2003

"I wasn't going through a particularly good time [during "The Godfather"]. I was very unhappy. For the first few weeks, they were thinking of firing me. And I couldn't understand why they didn't." – Pacino quoted to Premiere magazine, December 2004/January 2005

"One of the great things about acting is to suddenly be able to tell someone who has a chain saw at your face to shove it up his ass." – Pacino quoted to Premiere magazine, December 2004/January 2005

"I usually agree with what critics say about movies. Not about mine of course, I'm too subjective. But in retrospect when I look back at their criticism of my movies, I would agree most of the time." – Pacino in Hollywood Life magazine, September/October 2006

"I never acted on drugs, ever. I couldn't even act on a few drinks. It doesn't suit me. I like being aware of things." – Pacino quoted in Rolling Stone, March 28, 2013